Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, Tiantan, lies in Dongcheng District in the south of central Beijing. It was built between 1406 and 1420 under the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty, at the same time as the Forbidden City, and was extended under the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century and repaired under the Qing.

For about five centuries the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties came here each year to perform ceremonies to Heaven, praying for good harvests and fasting before the rites. The layout follows old cosmology: the northern wall is rounded to represent heaven and the southern wall square to represent earth. After the end of the empire the grounds opened as a public park in 1918. UNESCO inscribed the temple as a World Heritage Site in 1998.

The best known building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a round wooden hall about 38 metres high with a triple-gabled roof of dark blue glazed tiles, standing on a three-level marble terrace. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1889. A raised walkway about 360 metres long, the Vermilion Steps Bridge, leads south to the Imperial Vault of Heaven, surrounded by the Echo Wall, and the open, three-tier Circular Mound Altar. The complex covers about 273 hectares, much of it parkland where local residents gather for singing and dancing.

There are separate tickets for park entry and for the main buildings, and a combined ticket covers both. Foreign visitors need their passport to buy tickets. The park opens early in the morning, while the main halls open later and close earlier.